BT to bid for Premier League TV rights

BT is to challenge BSkyB by bidding for the rights to televise Premier League football when the current contract expires in 2007.

The plan is being masterminded by BT chairman Sir Christopher Bland, who was boss of London Weekend Television before it was taken over by Granada in 1994.

Bland is determined to build up BT's newly established entertainment division, headed by Andrew Burke, which aims to offer video-on-demand and pay-TV to every UK household in five years.

Part of Bland's project involves bidding for the rights to screen Premier League and other British and European soccer matches.

BT is unlikely to go head to head with BSkyB in a bidding war for the entire Premier League contract. Instead, the company is basing its plans on the assumption that the European Commission will rule that the number of Premier League matches shown by BSkyB be limited. That would allow other broadcasters and organisations to get a slice of the highly lucrative pay-TV soccer market.

An observer said: 'BT reckons the rights to televise Premier League matches will be auctioned off in two, three or even four parcels. It could then pick and choose, but would probably avoid a head-on clash with BSkyB.'

In the past, Bland has spoken of his admiration for Sky, which is controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Analysts think that BT would opt only to bid for matches where there was no direct competition with Murdoch.

But Bland's move may not be seen as a friendly act by Murdoch, who is determined that BSkyB should retain its current grip on the rights.

As revealed by The Observer two weeks ago, officials in the European Commission's Competition Directorate have told the league that, under their next broadcasting deal, no one station should show more than half the live matches screened.

But Bland has no desire to turn BT into a broadcaster. He intends to strike licensing deals with operators such as the BBC and ITV. Talks are already going on with both parties. What he really wants is for BT to carry valuable broadcasting content via its state-of-the-art broadband network, in which the company is investing billions of pounds.

BT has already signed up a number of partners in order to deliver entertainment services. When asked whether BT was planning to bid for premier league matches, spokesman Peter Morgan said: 'I cannot rule it out.'

About this article

BT to bid for Premier League TV rights

This article appeared on p1 of the Observer Business, Media & Cash section of the Observer
on Saturday 27 August 2005.
It was published on
the Guardian website
at 05.49 EDT on Sunday 28 August 2005.
It was last modified at 05.49 EDT on Monday 29 August 2005.
It was first published at 05.49 EDT on Monday 29 August 2005.